Hospital threatened with loss of junior doctors over safety concerns

A struggling trust has been warned by regulators that it could see its junior doctors removed, after concerns about clinical supervision and safety at a hospital whose A&E closes at night.

NHS England inspectors who visited Cheltenham General Hospital found emergency patients – including potential surgical patients – became the responsibility of the overnight medical team when its accident and emergency closed in the evening.

One night, 26 patients had been handed across, the inspectors were told, and some patients were felt to be inappropriate for medical referral. A surgical registrar could be telephoned at Gloucester Royal Hospital about surgical patients.

They were told that although there were no incidents of serious harm, there had been many “near misses” and juniors felt “unsafe and unsupported in terms of consultant clinical supervision, overall clinical/nursing staffing support or logistically in managing patients in this setting or arranging transfers”.

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Source: HSJ, 7 July 2023